Williamsburg-James City County pulls error-filled history books

The school division is now using textbooks from last year.

JAMES CITY — — Two history textbooks in which state historians found dozens of errors are no longer in use in Williamsburg-James City County schools.

District officials decided last week to pull the textbooks, "Our Virginia" and "Our America to 1865," the division's fourth- and sixth-grade history books. Instead, students will use last year's textbooks.

"Our Virginia" and "Our America," both published by Connecticut-based Five Ponds Press, have been spotlighted recently for the misspellings, grammar mistakes and factual inaccuracies in them. The publishing company first came under fire last October after a historian found an error related to African-American contributions in the Civil War.

The State Board of Education is considering withdrawing its approval of all social studies books published by the company. It is also looking into improving its overall textbook adoption process.

W-JCC sent letters to parents Monday alerting them of the decision and also assuring that students' education had not been interrupted because of the errors.